The French Permutation
by xLostInTheSun
Summary: Snippets of Sheldon and Amy's travel to Paris. Is the City of Love going to live up to its name for Pasadena's favourite power couple? - Participation to the Shamy Fic Exchange.


**A/N: This text was written for the Shamy fic exchange. My prompt was "Sheldon and Amy go on a vacation together." I had planned this story to be a long one - I actually had nearly 25,000 words written... until my laptop died. **

**This is all I've been able to do to replace the lost work. One day I'll re-write the complete thing, but for now, I had to deliver something. **

**I apologize for posting this so late, by the way. I was on a vacation this past week.**

**Without further nonsense, here come Amy, Sheldon and the City of love.**

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to join me?" Amy asked, looking into her boyfriend's blue eyes. She was glad she had changed her computer recently – Skype worked much better on this one.

"Positive. I have no interest whatsoever in travelling to a biology conference. I'm a physicist."

Amy frowned, fleetingly hurt by Sheldon's comment. "I am giving a lecture, Sheldon. You could be coming for me."

"You'll do well. You always do. You don't need me there."

Amy sighed. While the sentiment was nice, she wished Sheldon would really take an interest in her work. She knew he was proud of her, in his own way that no one but her ever got, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to hear him say the words.

"Fine then," she relented, "I'll ask Penny to join me."

Sheldon snorted. "Trust me," he said, "if there is one person in the world even less likely to be interested in a biology conference than me, it's Penny."

Amy shrugged. "I know, but it's in France. I don't think she'd ever say no to France."

Something suddenly changed in Sheldon's eyes. "You never said it was going to be in France," he nearly spat, somehow very accusatory.

"It didn't seem that important," Amy shrugged, a bit unsettled at Sheldon's suddenly harsh behaviour.

"Well it is," he said, and before Amy could ask how, he added, "I've changed my mind. I'll be coming with you."

Amy frowned. "Okay…" she said slowly, and Sheldon added "Well this is settled then. Tell me when's the plane again?"

"It's the day after tomorrow."

"Such a short notice," Sheldon complained.

"I'm replacing someone who _died_, Sheldon."

"The old man was 83. They should have seen it coming."

**ooo**

"Thank you for agreeing to see me today, Amy," Sheldon said, and Amy smiled. It always was great, seeing Sheldon. She would never "agree" to it when she really was always craving it.

"It's my pleasure, Sheldon,"

"We need to go over a few things before we go, mainly concerning the safety measures both in the plane and in the hostile land that is France."

Amy couldn't agree more. One was never too prudent when going on a trip abroad. But the mystery remained.

"Why did you even want to come with me if you hate France that much?"

"I don't hate France," Sheldon said in a voice that clearly meant "I won't be saying more."

Knowing better than insisting, Amy smiled and said "Then there is no reason we shouldn't be having a nice time."

"Sure. Now on with those safety measures and other travel concerns."

For the next three hours, Amy and Sheldon discussed the best attitude to adopt in case the plane were to collide with a UFO filled with vindictive aliens, the best way to survive in an ocean infested by sharks in case of a crash ("I won't," Sheldon had said. "I can't float. I'll just drown and then be eaten and humanity will forever mourn the loss of my brilliant mind."), the best answer to angry Frenchmen, and the best plan to avoid French food ("We're going to be in France, Sheldon. We should at least try some of their food," Amy had said, and Sheldon had made a disgusted face and answered "No we won't. There is no way on earth I am eating either a snail or a frog. They're just yucky.")

When Sheldon finally walked Amy to the door of the apartment he shared with Leonard, they were fully prepared for their upcoming trip.

"I shall pick you up at six in the morning tomorrow," Amy said with a smile, and Sheldon frowned.

"That's terribly early."

"Our flight is at ten, Sheldon. I can't help but think the time I'm picking you up at is actually terribly late."

"You're going to have to be up at dawn. Why didn't you bring your suitcase with you? You could have slept here tonight."

On the way back to Glendale, Amy couldn't help but metaphorically kick herself in the butt. Her boyfriend's first suggestion of a sleepover, and she'd missed it.

**ooo**

"I hate going through airport security."

"We all do, Sheldon."

"You don't have a peso stuck up your nose. It always takes me half an hour to get through!"

"Last time I tried to fly, I broke a TSA agent's nose with my elbow. I think it's safe to say I hate going through airport security as much as you do."

Sheldon sighed, and Amy couldn't help but shiver a little at the feeling of his breath on the back of her neck. He was abnormally close to her, but Amy had a hunch it was simply because he was trying not to enter in any form of physical contact with the overweight, foul-smelling woman behind him in line.

"This trip is already proving to be a nightmare, Amy, and we're not even in the plane yet."

"Don't be so defeatist," she scolded although, truth be told, she wasn't exactly enjoying herself very much.

"I don't want to go."

At these words, Amy turned around, looking up at him.

"Really?" she asked, disappointment evident on her face. But Sheldon, ever the socially inept man, didn't even notice and went on: "Really. I can't do this. What was I thinking? I hate flying!"

Amy internally struggled for a few seconds with the voice that was telling her to try and convince him to stay with her, but she knew better than arguing with Sheldon when he was in that state.

"I won't lie, I'm disappointed," she said. "I was very much looking forward to go on this trip with you. France, it would have been so romantic…"

Sheldon frowned for a couple of seconds, before he shook his head, exclaiming "Drat! I can't let you go to France on your own."

"It's okay, Sheldon. I promise not to eat any frog or any snail."

"No, that's not it," Sheldon said, and when Amy asked "What is it, then?" he simply shook his head once more.

**ooo**

"Please fasten your seatbelt."

Obviously, the flying attendant's instructions were unnecessary for Amy and Sheldon, who had buckled their seatbelt as soon as they've gotten to their assigned seats. Looking out of the window, Amy felt herself smile. They were leaving a sunny Californian day behind them and she had no idea what was awaiting them in France, but she knew it could never be terrible. After all, she was going to be with her boyfriend in the City of Love, and even though he would probably never realised the importance of being in Paris with one's significant other, it was still going to be the most romantic thing Amy had ever experienced.

"What are you smiling about?" Sheldon asked, visibly confused. "We're about to spend hours sitting in a metallic, pressurised box flying in the sky with the ever present possibility that it could crash to the ground, be it American or European, or even into the Atlantic Ocean."

"Nothing," Amy said, smiling even more. "I'm just… glad it's you and not Penny coming with me." She wanted to add that she loved him very much, but today wasn't the day. Amy was confident it would eventually come, though, and she wasn't worried.

"Yes, well," Sheldon said, "I couldn't let you go there with Penny."

"Why such vehemence against the idea of me in France anyway?"

"No reason," Sheldon answered and Amy could have sworn she saw his eye twitching.

She didn't have time to say anything though, for the speaker phones suddenly announced that the plane was now going to be driven to the take-off zone, and the next half hour was spent in silence between the two of them. It was only when the plane suddenly took the acceleration needed to take-off that Sheldon exclaimed "Oh boy!" Amy would have said a reassuring word if Sheldon hadn't surprised her into stillness when he then grabbed her hand.

It wasn't the first time Sheldon grabbed Amy's hand on his own free will – the first instance had obviously been during Howard's launch, and then when they had been talking over tea a couple of weeks after their Dungeons & Dragons role play. "I felt like it," Sheldon had said when Amy had looked at him with her eyebrows raised, and ever since Leonard had gone to the North Sea and they had gotten even closer if possible, Sheldon regularly grabbed her hand.

It didn't mean Amy wasn't shocked every time he did it.

When the plane finally reached an acceptable altitude, Amy expected Sheldon to let go her hand.

But he didn't.

He didn't and they held hands until the moment he was finally let into the plane crew's toilets ("I'm not using the passengers' toilets, they're bound to be even filthier than those of the crew!"), four hours after take-off.

**ooo**

Their first night in Paris turned out to be… not great at first, and then terrific.

After landing at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle sometime after two in the morning, they had to get the most expensive cab Amy had ever taken in her life – thank God everything was covered by UCLA. Of course, the whole process of even _getting Sheldon to agree to take a cab_ had taken a fair amount of time and they arrived at their hotel a little after four.

Sheldon, then crankier than ever, gasped in outrage at the sight awaiting them in the room: only one double bed, and no couch for one of them to sleep on.

Amy, too tired to even be elated at the prospect of _finally_sleeping in Sheldon's bed, simply pointed out the obvious.

"Looks like we'll have to share it, Sheldon." Then, she spotted a door she assumed was the bathroom. She opened it and after glancing quickly inside, she added "Either that or the bath. It looks clean."

"Sleeping in a bath would be a disaster for my back, Amy."

"Yeah, well I'm not sleeping in there either," she said, yawning loudly.

"Don't be silly, we'll sleep together."

Amy wasn't tired enough not to notice Sheldon hadn't even protested and didn't even seem _that _annoyed.

"Aren't you angry?"

"About the sleeping arrangements? Of course not."

"But then… why the gasp?"

"Have you seen those curtains, Amy? Pretty sure they could go up in flames in one second. Leave it to the French to be terribly neglectful about security."

In spite of her elation at the idea that Sheldon didn't mind them sharing a bed, Amy couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Sheldon, if you're going to criticize this country every hour, maybe you shouldn't have come."

Taking his pyjamas out of his suitcase and heading for the bathroom, Sheldon answered "Nonsense. I had to be with you."

Too tired to even ask, Amy simply shrugged, quickly changed into her own pyjamas and hopped into bed. When Sheldon joined her a few minutes later, he said "No funny business, please."

His only answer was Amy's snoring.

**ooo**

The first day was mostly spent catching up on lost sleep, and when Amy opened her eyes around one in the afternoon, she found herself staring at her boyfriend's still asleep face. Smiling to herself, Amy grabbed her cell phone and quickly texted Penny as she'd promised she would.

_We arrived safely in Paris. The weather seems beautiful, I'm sleeping in for the first time in years, and Sheldon and I are sharing a bed. The only missing things to make this day perfect are my gorgeous Bestie and an exciting trip to the zoo. xoxoxo –Amy._

The answer came only a few minutes later.

_I would have been angry at you for waking me up but HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU'VE SLEPT WITH SHELDON?_

Amy felt the need to clarify the situation.

_We didn't have coitus, if that's what you're asking. But we did share a bed and Sheldon wasn't mad about it. Dare I say he even seemed kind of… pleased?_

The answer was still very excited.

_Well that is__ some news! Enjoy your stay Ames, and let me know if anything juicy happens. ;)_

Deciding not to let Penny know anything – that winking face only meant she would blab to Bernadette who would in turn tell Howard who would then make fun of Sheldon – Amy put her cell phone back on the nightstand.

When she turned back towards Sheldon, she realised he was awake.

"Hello," she said, her voice cracking a little – from tiredness or from emotion, she didn't know.

"Hello," Sheldon answered, smiling a little, and Amy felt her heart beat fast in her chest.

"I was thinking about getting dressed and going to the _boulangerie _across the street to get us some _croissants_."

Sheldon seemed to like the idea for a few seconds, until he frowned.

"No."

"What?"

"You're not going to wander the streets of Paris on your own, Amy," he said, visibly serious.

"Okay, what's the thing with you being so opposed to me being in France without you?"

"Nothing," Sheldon said. Jumping off the bed quicker than Amy could say "I don't believe you", he grabbed clean clothes from his suitcase and headed into the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later, declaring "I am getting those croissants, do not move."

When he came back about twenty minutes later, he looked like he had walked a thousand miles and then some more, but he had the croissants and Amy was so glad he'd done that for her she decided not to press on about Sheldon's weird obsession.

The rest of the afternoon went in a blur, just the two of them together in that hotel room, on that hotel bed, with a lot of Counterfactuals rounds and the shooting of a special episode of _Fun with Flags _about the French flag.

Amy really felt very happy.

**ooo**

The next day was dedicated to exploring the city of Paris. As Sheldon had put it, "it's not because we don't like it that we can't appreciate the few historically interesting aspects of this city." (Amy had wanted to answer "We? I love being here, and I think Paris has more than "a few" historically interesting aspects", but she figured that if she kept silent, maybe she could convince him that they should do one of those romantic cruisers on the River Seine.)

After a breakfast consisting once more of croissants that Sheldon had insisted to get himself, they headed out and hailed a taxi. Although Amy agreed to some extent with her voyager's guide that the Parisian metro was one of the chams of the city, there also was no way on earth that Sheldon and she would be riding those infernal germ-infested nests, _thank you very much_. They were in the City of Love, not the City of Lack-Of-Hygiene-Induced Death. Their driver tried to chat fr a few minutes until it became very apparent that neither Sheldon nor Amy had any interest in engaging in pointless chit-chat, and he gave up with a muttered _"Pfff, ces Américains."_

Sheldon and Amy's first stop was the Louvre Museum. Sheldon found the experience globally disappointing, for this Museum was dedicated to Art, not Science. Even the works of famous inventor Leonardo Da Vinci weren't enough to interest him, and when he commented that the Mona Lisa really wasn't worth the hype, Amy decided a little after lunchtime they should probably try something else and kept her admiration for Delacroix's _Liberté Guidant Le Peuple _and her disappointment – because really, no one could see everything the Louvre has to offer in just one morning – to herself.

They then took another taxi to the Eiffel Tower, which captured Sheldon's attention a little more since, as he so eloquently put it – making Amy swoon – it was primarily designed for the _Exposition Universelle_ of 1889 and it unknowingly to most people, it now served as one of the biggest television antenna in France. Amy argued that they should be visiting it – keeping her main motive, i.e. it being lunchtime and having lunch on the Eiffel Tower being the most romantic thing ever a secret – but Sheldon said he really didn't think it was worth the wait. He had a point, as the queues to the iconic tower went on for meters and meters, so off they went to their next destination.

Amy had never been a religious person. While she didn't object the concept of a deity, she was baffled by the notion of one that would take attendance, and she didn't care very much for churches. But there was something to being in Notre Dame de Paris that transcended her faith, or lack thereof. Maybe it was the fact that she was finally seeing with her own eyes the setting in which one of Victor Hugo's most famous novel (and Amy's personal favourite) took place, but Amy felt moved beyond words, in a way that she had come to associate only with science and Sheldon. When he grabbed her hand, right in the middle of one of the cathedral's alley, Amy looked at him and she could tell he felt similarly overcome, somehow. Amy wasn't quite sure what happened in the cathedral, but maybe miracles did exist, after all.

Deciding to test her new hypothesis when they finally walked out of the cathedral a couple of hours after they first entered it, Amy said: "You know, Sheldon, they say you can't come to Paris and not do one of those River Seine cruise things."

"Well we're going to have to prove the saying wrong," Sheldon answered, his hand still holding Amy's "for we're in Paris and we're certainly not going to do it."

"Oh, come on, it could be fun," Amy argued, and Sheldon frowned.

"Of course not. This is a recipe for a disaster. What if the boat sinks? Do you really want to end up dead, eaten by whatever fish swim in the filthy waters of the River Seine?"

"The boat isn't going to sink, Sheldon."

"And you know this how? Did you suddenly become extralucid?"

He had a point, for Amy had no way of knowing whether or not the boat would sink. She then decided to change her approach to the problem. "Leonard's on a boat and he's still not dead."

"It's only a matter of time. Besides, those are two completely different boats. Just because Leonard's hasn't sunk yet doesn't mean ours won't. Really Amy, you should know better than come to me with this type of flawed reasoning."

Amy merely rolled her eyes, for this wasn't the reasoning she had in mind. "What I meant is, would you really feel good about yourself knowing that your homunculus of a best friend has succeeded something you didn't even try because you were, as the saying puts it, scared to death?"

Something shifted on Sheldon's face and Amy thought that she had hit a nerve, but that feeling wasn't long lived, for Sheldon forced himself to shrug as if to show he didn't really care, actually.

That was when Amy decided to use Sheldon's aversion at the thought of leaving her alone to his advantage. "Well it'll have to just be me, then."

"You can't go on there."

"But I want to and you don't want to come. So you leave me no choice."

Half an hour later, they walked hand in hand into one of the boats.

Secretly rejoicing at the _oh so romantic _aspect of this activity, Amy beamed when Sheldon sat on one of the vacant seats of the boat and gently tugged her hand so she could seat next to him – to his right as usual. Amy didn't think it could have gotten any better, not until Sheldon started telling fact after fact about the various monuments on the shores of the River Seine. Swooning over her boyfriend's brilliant mind, Amy smiled so brightly Sheldon asked her a couple of times if she was okay.

And really, she was way more than just "okay".

**ooo**

The day after was the day Amy was giving her lecture. She woke up and got ready silently so as to not wake a deep asleep Sheldon up. But when she was about to leave their room, she heard Sheldon say "Where do you think you're going, Doctor Fowler?" and her heart skipped a beat – there was _nothing _more arousing than hearing Sheldon call her "Doctor Fowler"

"I'm going to give my lecture, Doctor Cooper," she answered, and Sheldon's lips curved up in a small smile.

"And you thought I'd let you go alone? Really?"

"You were sleeping."

Sheldon tsked and sat up in the bed – in _their bed_. His hair was dishevelled and his pyjama askew and Amy felt her heart beat faster again. She really needed to get a better grasp on her feelings for her boyfriend.

"I'm not letting you go there alone," he said, reaching for his clothes.

Amy rolled her eyes, getting annoyed at Sheldon's insistence of not letting her be alone in Paris, but before she could say anything, Sheldon added "I wouldn't want to miss your moment of brilliance, would I?" and Amy nearly wept.

**ooo**

Amy's lecture went more than well – it went perfectly. She knew her topic, the audience was receptive, and her interpret was actually competent – because she definitely had had her fair share of incompetent interprets in the past.

Nothing, though, could have prepared her for what would happen as soon as she stepped off the stage, for when she joined Sheldon again, sitting in the audience, he grabbed her by the shoulders and planted a short and shy but definitely sweet kiss on her lips. The moment was over before she could really react and she fleetingly wondered if she had simply imagined it, but Sheldon's reddened cheeks told her it really had happened – her boyfriend _had _finally kissed her for the first time in over three years.

"Sheldon?" she breathed, incapable of asking more, and his eyes fixated on everything but her, he muttered a "Sorry" that both made her heart melt and her blood boil. He was kissing her for the first time ever and he _apologised_? It was both the sweetest and the most infuriating thing he'd ever done.

"You don't have to apologize, Sheldon," she said, smiling. "It's just… surprising."

His cheeks redder than ever, Sheldon said "I… I don't know what happened. It's just… you were so brilliant and intelligent and I…"

Amy knew what he meant – for her too, the mind was the greatest aphrodisiac there is: she hadn't fallen in love with Sheldon Lee Cooper for no reason. But Sheldon looked like he was about to ramble for hours and as much as she loved the sound of his voice, now just wasn't the time to listen to it. So she just kissed him again.

"What if we just went back to the hotel and played Dungeons & Dragons?" she asked, only half-joking, and shocked at her own nerve. She'd wanted to ask for weeks now – ever since their first D&D session, really – but never really could bring herself to it. Mostly because she knew Sheldon would refuse, which was why she was shocked into silence when he gulped and said "Okay."

**ooo**

Later that night, after not one but two rounds of D&D and three other quick, chaste kisses, Amy and Sheldon were simply lying on their bed, holding hands, when Sheldon said "I'm almost sad about leaving tomorrow."

"Almost?"

"I still don't like France," he shrugged, and Amy laughed.

"I still don't get why you insisted on coming with me, then."

Sheldon seemed to hesitate a few seconds, before he finally said: "I couldn't let you go alone to a country where men love women a little too much, could I?"

For some reason, this made Amy feel a little angry. Raising herself on her elbow, she furrowed her brows and said "Are you saying you were afraid I'd run off with a Frenchman? Do you really think I could do that?"

"Of course not," Sheldon instantly answered, and Amy was surprised to hear he sounded sincere. "I trust you, Amy. It's those Frenchmen I don't trust. An alluring lady like you, with a brilliant mind and a successful carreer like yours – I couldn't let them fall in love with you, too. What if they abducted you to keep you to themselves, or even… raped you."

Sheldon shuddered, but Amy hadn't heard anything after his "I couldn't let them fall in love with you, too."

"What do you mean, Sheldon?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Well, I don't think I could be clearer, Amy. Those French are a dangerous people and…"

"No," she said, "I… While I definitely appreciate your concern for me, trust me, I just… What did you mean, when you said you couldn't let them fall in love with me, too?"

Sheldon turned to red and he muttered "Oh, you heard that, did you?"

He then sighed, and took a deep breath before launching himself into one of those long monologues that made Amy swoon. His eyes staring at the roof of their room, he said "What I'm trying to say is… I've been reading a lot, lately, about… about what they call "love" and… well I knew most of it, of course, because I love Meemaw and Mom and Leonard, and even Penny, sometimes, I guess. But… you know, what they described about romantic love and how that person makes you feel… it just… it was just like I feel for my spot, to be honest. Because my spot makes me feel secure and protected and in the midst of all the chaos of the everyday life, it's the one thing that remains a constant and it's the basis upon which my whole ground is founded and the axis around which my whole universe revolves. And I thought… well, I can't be in love with my spot, now, can I? And then I realised… Well, I do feel like this about someone else, don't I?"

Amy… Amy knew where this was going, and she felt the tears pool in her eyes, and she nearly kissed him here and there but… she needed to hear it. It was silly, because she knew he loved her like she knew the stars are always there or the Earth revolved around the Sun, but it never hurt being reassured that the stars were only hidden by the sun and would be back at night or that the Earth wasn't bound to float away from the Sun anytime soon, did it?

"So I looked the truth in the eyes," Sheldon said, his eyes still staring at the roof, "and… Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you make me feel like my spot, only better, because… because you're here and you're real. And I think… no, I know that it means that I'm in love with you, and… it's not as scary as I thought it would be."

Sheldon took another deep breath and finally looked at her. "I'm really trying, Amy. To be able to… to make love to you. And I'm not quite there yet, but I want you to know that it's going to happen, one day. I don't know when, but it's going to happen. Because I love you, and that's what people who love each other do."

Amy didn't let him say more, kissing him full on the mouth. Since she was raised above him, she nearly instantly withdrew herself, realising Sheldon could probably think she was trying to pounce on him, but as she went to sit back where she was, Amy felt Sheldon bring her closer again. Any other thought left her brain, and Sheldon and she kissed like two drunken, happy teenagers, for what felt like hours. They fell asleep in their clothes of the day, Sheldon's arms around Amy, and as her eyes fluttered close, she was the happiest she'd ever been.

Paris really was the City of Love.

* * *

**A/N: Merci d'avoir lu, et n'oubliez pas les reviews, s'il vous plait. ;)**


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